If a book is presented as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, it's guaranteed I'll read it and almost sure I'll enjoy it. So imagine my disappointment that I couldn't finish reading A Curse So Dark and Lonely. I adored Harper and Grey, but I found Rhen to be unredeemable. He was focused on his curse so much, yet I never got the feeling that he learned from his past mistakes. Unfortunately I realize that this book isn't for me. I'm glad for everyone who enjoyed this book, and I am certain there will be readers who will enjoy this book.

Thank you for the advance copy!

This is a retelling of Beauty & the Beast, I’ve reread this book twice and whilst it’s enjoyable I couldn’t get engrossed in the characters.

The plot is great and that was wonderful to try and solve the mystery but I don’t feel that it really hit the spot for me, I reread it twice as I wanted to continue the series and I will most likely still give it a chance and read book 2.

Brigid’s writing is beautiful and descriptive but the characters just fell flat for me.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

I enjoyed this book so much that halfway through reading it, I went straight to Amazon and ordered the whole boxset to arrive the next day. Since then I have read it twice through. Its the perfect retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a great twist and representation of liability. I loved every part of it, especially the way we got to see the story and the war from different perspectives through the three books. I bought a copy of each for my library and highly recommend it to anyone.

Hello Books Lovers,

today, for Oscar Mondadori, the first title of a trilogy that I had been aiming for since it was first published is out. In those days I might have been able to read the arc, but stupid me, I never did, I had to wait years for it to be translated into Italian to convince myself to read it.

Anyway now here I am, on the day of its release in all digital bookstores and libraries, talking to you about A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmer, retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with a wonderful cover and from a very particular story because a mix between urban fantasy and high fantasy.

There would be a lot of things to say, but I see it hard to say everything without spoilers. But one question I asked myself is, why is the first book of the trilogy the longest and the other two shorter? Usually the opposite happens, that the story gets richer and richer as it progresses, right up to the end. I would not like to get ahead, but seeing this situation I would think that the story in the next volumes will be more hasty, but I hope it will not.

From a retelling point of view, however, I would say that the author did a good job. You see all the original elements of Beauty and the Beast but in a totally new and smooth version. Kemmer’s writing, with first-person narration, two POVs, at present, is light, interesting and not heavy at all.

Rhen is the Crown Prince of Emberfall. Over 300 seasons ago, he spent a night with Lilith, a power-hungry witch. After that night she cursed him, so at the end of each season – which always repeats the same as the previous one – he turns into a monster and ends up killing his subjects, his family, and sometimes even some of the girls that Gray brings for him.

Because, as in the original story, to break the curse, Rhen has to make a girl fall in love with him. Gray, his guard, has the task of taking a girl to the prince every season. In this last season Gray had found a girl, but Harper, who was on that same street, hears the scene and goes to the girl’s aid, eventually being taken to Emberfall herself.

As you can imagine, things are not easy, because Harper is not like other girls, she is tenacious and combative. But this will also be Rhen’s last season, the last chance to break the curse and save Emberfall. But if he doesn’t break the curse, he’ll forever become The Monster.

Yet this is not the only problem, because the queen of a neighboring kingdom wants to invade Emberfall. Rhen clearly has a lot on his mind, and once Harper agrees that he can’t go home, he’ll help Rhen at least protect his people from invasion.

This feels like the cruelest season of all, to present me with a girl with the fierceness to stand at my side – yet with a home and family she needs to return to so badly.

A lot happens in this 500-page book. However, there are some things that have not convinced me 100%. The love story should be the focus of the story, after all it is the only answer to break the curse, but many times it is neglected to make room for the subplot of the war. I discovered, around page 400, that there should be a love triangle in this book, but trust me when I tell you that this detail is almost non existent.

There is the ending, which could have been better developed, with more details, slightly longer in events. But what saves it is the last chapter, from Gray’s point of view, which leaves us with bated breath because it reveals a very interesting mystery that will certainly be developed in the next volumes.

Summing up. There is maybe a little something that would have been more interesting if done differently, but the retelling part was so interesting and the characters were so well defined that this book deserves 4 stars.

This book was so good! I loved the diversity in the book. I love Grey! it was a little rushes for me but I loved it and would highly recommend.

So this is a difficult book for me to review as I didn't find it as easy to get into as some of her other titles although I can understand why so many people have enjoyed. Well written with interesting characters, I just couldn't connect.

Well this was a spectacular retelling of Beauty and the Beast and probably my favorite one as of right now.

I might do a full review later but for now I'll leave you with this. I loved everything about this book. The writing, the world, the characters. And oh. My. God. The ending slayed me. I need the 2nd book yesterday.

This was my most anticipated book of the year and it did not disappoint. But seriously, I need the sequel.

This book was so good!
I loved the diversity in the book.
1 thing is for sure: I love Grey!
I can't wait to read more!!!

Before I go any further, I want to say quickly that I went through really bad audiobook slump before I settled on this [I started then DNF/put on the back burner several audiobooks, including audiobooks I was hugely excited to listen to [yes, Barack Obama. I’m talking about you]. I think I burnt myself out due to last year and global events (hence my decision to be more gentle with reading/blogging this year). So, this might effect my review/reaction to this. So, keep that in mind before you read this and judge me too harshly.

In this reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, we follow Harper, a girl from our world and Rhen, a prince and heir of Emberfall who, yep, you guessed it, is cursed. He’s cursed to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, only to be freed by love. If he isn’t freed, he is transformed into a monster, hell-bent of destruction and death, throwing his kingdom into fear and enemy kingdoms are waiting for the perfect time to invade. And now, the stakes are higher as this season will be his last…

Harper’s life hasn’t been easy. Her mother’s health is deteriorating due to terminal cancer, her father has got the family into huge debt and ran off, leaving her and her brother to pick up the pieces, doing jobs from the loan sharks their dad (now their family) is indebted to (and some of these jobs are violent) and having people see her as a victim or broken due to her cerebral palsy. So when she stops a man kidnapped a drugged girl, she takes that girl’s place and is taken to Emberfall. Prince Rhen and his sole guards man, Grey, assume Harper is going to be like the other girls - how wrong they are as Harper is stubborn, reckless and will fight tooth and nail to return home…

In theory, this should be right up my street. A Beauty and the Beast fantasy retelling, well-written and well excuted enemies to lovers arc, interesting and complex characters, diversity. Everything about this book is good. I completely get why you all love this. This, in theory, should have been catnip for me!

And yet…

Maybe it’s because am in a bit of slump after 2020 put us all through the ringer. Maybe it’s because I felt like I’ve read several of the twists before in other fantasy novels (this is the first in a series and there was one twist that was revealed in the last 2 hours of the audiobook that I guessed within the first few chapters. That’s right, I saw that twist coming from the very beginning of the book and yet, it wasn’t revealed till the very end). Maybe I had my expectations of this book too high (blaming the hype train on that). Maybe the plot was drawn out a little too much for my tastes. Maybe due to the narrators of audiobooks, I struggled to listen to anything longer than two hours (and even then, I had to do it in doses with music and podcasts to break it up).

For whatever reason, I just didn’t gel with it in the way I hoped.

I do think this might be because was in bit on a slump so I am considering relistening to the audiobook later this year and seeing if I still have the same feels to it. It might just be “wrong time for this read”. Hopefully, in a few months when/if I reread this, I will be more on board with it.

But, at this moment in time, it was an ok read. I just wanted something more…

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I've had an eARC since last year I think.

This book follows Harper as she unwittingly is thrown into a world where the prince is doomed to become a monster and has to fall in love to stop the curse.

I loved the world this was set in. I found it to be so unique. Normally, even though there are two different worlds in the book, neither of them are like our world. But in this, Harper is from Earth as we know it. She lives in America and not another made up world. I don't know why but I was happy with that.

I love Harper as a character. She doesn't back down and doesn't see herself as weak just because she has cerebral palsy. She knows how to take care of herself and I love her and how fierce she is. I really liked Gray and how he stays by Rhen's side no matter what. Rhen was such an interesting character and loved his character development.

I like that we get to see both Harper and Rhys points of view as we got an insight into how both were feeling.

I loved the romance in this. I think that has to be one of my favourite aspects from this. It is very slow burn and it's done so well. They don't fall in love straight away, which would make the book end very quickly 😂.

I loved the plot and pacing. It doesn't solely focus on the curse and there's other aspect of the world and politics that are explored. It focuses on everything from the citizens to how Harper feels being transported to a foreign world.

All in all, I loved this book and highly recommend this book if you love retellings. I can't wait to read the next book

5/5

I am a sucker for a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Unfortunately A Curse So Dark and Lovely did not hit the spot. I tried to get into several times to no avail. I've heard it to the A Court of Thorns and Roses series which despite all its issues I did love but ACSDAL did not compare. I liked the fact that the heroine, Harper, had a disability but I didn't like the hero, Rhen or the concept. I find myself with less and less tolerance of authors who try to make their heroines seem different and interesting by denigrating other female characters. It's lazy and insulting. I think it was for this reason I couldn't get into despite multiple attempts over the past year.

Absolutely damn incredible book! 5 stars. It sure did take me a long while to read, but my god this book <3 I'm so happy I have #2 on hand so I can jump in soon!
I loved the setting, I loved Kemmerer's ability to change tone of voice while swapping between Rhen and Harper, I loved how the romance was good, but it wasn't shoved in my face too much, it was gradual and gentle. And just the camaraderie between her and Grey, how it didn't feel like too much between them, it was perfect.
I'm so glad that Harper told Grey that one thing I was thinking forever, I'd be mad if she didn't suggest it!
I need to know about Lilith though!

I was really looking forward to another Beauty and the Beast retelling as I love the original story, however, unfortunately this book was not for me. I can see its merits for other readers, but for me it just fell flat.

I was really hoping to love it but there wasn't any connection to the characters and I didn't care about them, nor did I want to pick the book back up when I put it down.

I always love a good retelling and I can't believe I took so long to read this one.
I loved how it mixed our world with a fantasy world, it's always amazing to see new takes on a retelling to shake it up a bit and this was done brilliantly.
The characters were written beautifully and I love that we saw an MC with a disability that she made sure didn't make her any less amazing, Harper is definitely the kind of MC I like to see and I can't wait to see where this series goes.

No wonder people kept urging me to read this book! ACSDAL is the ultimate Beauty and the Beast retelling. It even features a main character with a disability which is incredible. Rhen, Harper, and Grey have become some of my favourite characters!

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I’m a black sheep with this one. All the bloggers I follow and Goodreads reviewers seem to absolutely love this book. I’ve read the author before and I have loved everything I’ve read by her, but I didn’t love this one. I did get a Netgalley kindle copy I tried reading before the book came out, but the formatting was terrible so I decided to wait until I got a physical copy.

It was book of the month in one of my Fairyloot subscription boxes so I got a nice shiny hardback. I sort of waited until the hype died down a bit, but then the sequel came out – which I did get (another Fairyloot exclusive) just in case I loved the first and had to have the second one.

And turned out I was just sort of meh about the whole thing really. It was an interesting parallel for the Beauty and the Beast retelling, but frankly, the beast character Prince Rhen irritated the hell out of me. I found him completely unsympathetic, annoying, selfish and whiny. I did however, really like the female character Harper. She was what made the book come alive for me. She was strong, sassy, level headed, and smart. Not blown over by the opulence of the fantasy world she suddenly finds herself thrust into. The other character I really liked was Rhen’s loyal guard, Grey who was much more likeable – a bit of a stick in the mud at times, but with a sense of honour and loyalty. I was routing for him and Harper to hook up – they had a love/hate relationship turned into friendship and mutual respect.

However, given it’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling, it’s obvious where the romance was going to happen. I found the plot predictable, and tedious at times, for long stretches nothing seemed to happen other than Rhen whining about his curse and Harper trying to figure out how to escape and get back to her home, the normal human world. They would dance around just forming a connection and something would happen sending them back to square one of distrust and frustration. I found it repetitive and annoying.

Two thirds of the novel was prepping for one huge battle when the beast finally appeared. And when it did it was almost like everything happened in a rush. Which of course ended on a cliff hanger. There were a few twists hinted at throughout (and again, completely predictable) If I hadn’t already bought the second book before I read this one I wouldn’t have bothered, but as I have and quite liked Grey’s character, I’m curious to see where his story goes.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for approving my request to view the title.

I love this book!!
"A Curse So Dark and Lonely" surprised me positively cause I didn´t know what to expect from it. It was a unique retelling of the classic from "the Beauty and the beast". With Harper, the Reader got a tough and strong female character who lead through the Story.
I strongly hope that it will also be translated into German cause I have so many friends I want to recommend the book but they don't read English.

I really enjoyed this! I don’t have much experience with this author’s books, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I do wish the disability rep was a little more present. There’s a bad habit of authors giving a character a disability, then it only being mentioned a few times in passing and it having almost no impact on that character’s life, which is better than no rep at all but not how a disability works.

I did really like how resourceful and determined Harper was, and I’m really looking forward to reading the sequel. The ending was great!

I got an e-ARC of A Curse so Dark & Lonely through Netgalley before it came out in 2019. I read it right away and I remember enjoying it a whole lot. It was a super busy time in my life and I never got around to writing the review. I recently decided to pick up the audiobook and I fell in love all over again. I decided it was time to write this way overdue review! (Also, receiving this e-ARC from the publisher does not influence my opinion of this book!)

I just had to double check if it’s actually a Beauty & the Beast retelling, simply because it’s such an original take on a fairytale. I guess the basics are the same; there’s a monster, and a girl, who’s whisked away to this magical land and trapped there. That’s where the similarities end, though. Harper, one of the main characters, is a fierce, force-to-be-reckoned with kind of girl. I loved her (sometimes hilarious) attempts at escape and eventually her growth into this incredibly complex, beautiful character.

Rhen is our other main character, the ‘beast’ of the story. Oh my goodness, I’m in LOVE with him. I think of him as a typical crown prince, except better? (vague, I know!) And I just love how he cares for Harper, and he’s like ‘I don’t expect you to fall in love with me’, which makes me so, so sad. And obviously he’s the cursed one so like… My poor, poor boy. Anyway, I absolutely love his development in the story. I really feels like Harper makes him a better character as well, although his growth 100% comes from within himself.

I love how A Curse so Dark & Lonely is a contemporary fantasy set in a high fantasy world. It starts out in our own world and then we find ourselves in the beautiful world of Emberfall. It’s such an interesting setting with its own story. We didn’t get to see much of it (yet, I hope) but there was enough world building to see there’s a solid foundation there. I already cannot wait to read more about it in the sequel!

As for the audiobook, I think it made the experience of reading/listening to the story so much better. Each of the main characters had their own narrator and they were perfect for their roles. Their narration made the funny parts all the more hilarious and the monster chapters were absolutely terrifying in the best way! I definitely do not regret spending my Audible credit on it. It’s definitely worth the listen if you’re into audiobooks.